President Donald Trump’s “get tough” stance on North Korea is beginning to show results. South Korea says it has agreed with North Korea to hold summit talks in late April, and their presidential office also said Tuesday that the countries have agreed to set up a telephone hotline between their leaders.
South Korea’s presidential national security director, Chung Eui-yong, said North Korea has also made it clear that it wouldn’t need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against the country are resolved and it receives a credible security guarantee.
The comments were made hours after a South Korean delegation led by Chung returned from a visit to the North, where they met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
South Korea says North Korea has agreed to impose a moratorium on tests of nuclear weapons and missiles if it holds talks with the United States.
Eui-yong said Tuesday that North Korea said it’s ready to have “heart-to-heart” talks with the United States on issues regarding the North’s potential denuclearization and the normalization of relations between Pyongyang and Washington.
President Donald Trump says “we will see what happens” in talks between North and South Korea.
We will see what happens! https://t.co/Y1qxoAUfd9
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2018
Trump commented Tuesday as he retweeted a link from The Drudge Report about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosting South Korean envoys in a rare visit to the North.
The White House has not formally commented on Tuesday’s announcements.
Last week, Trump responded to an overture from North Korea for talks with the U.S. by saying that will happen only “under the right conditions.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.